Veterinary bone tamps transfer mallet force into bone or graft material through a controlled, tapered tip, seating a graft or elevating a depressed fragment without splintering the delicate bone around it. Peak Surgicals supplies three patterns, Bone Impactor, Cross Serrated Tamp and Caspar Bone Tamp, in stainless steel, from $16.50 to $27.50. Each is CE marked and built under ISO 13485. Compare all three patterns in the grid below.
Tamp or Impactor: Which Instrument for Which Job?
A bone tamp carries a cross-serrated tip that grips graft material or bone as mallet force drives it into place, while an impactor's broader striking surface is built for direct bone-to-bone seating rather than graft compaction, the tip geometry follows the material being driven. Both work by the same principle: a slender, tapered shaft that transmits mallet energy precisely, avoiding bruising to adjacent cortical margins.
Bone Impactor ($16.50) handles general bone-to-bone seating during fracture reduction. Bone Tamps Cross Serrated (from $26.40) carries a cross-serrated impact tip specifically for cancellous graft compaction and articular surface elevation, the serration grips morselised graft material so mallet force compacts it rather than driving the tamp straight through it. Caspar Bone Tamp ($27.50) is available in 3mm, 5mm and 8mm cross-serrated tip diameters with a black plastic handle, matching tip size to the graft cavity being filled. We supply every pattern at MOQ 1.
Tip Diameter, Mallet Weight and Controlled Force
Tip diameter is the specification that decides fit — a tamp too wide does not reach a narrow graft cavity, and one too narrow fails to distribute force across the full graft surface, driving it unevenly. The three Caspar diameters (3mm, 5mm, 8mm) exist to match a range of cavity sizes without forcing one tip to do work it wasn't sized for.
Mallet weight matters as much as tip selection. Pairing a small-to-medium tamp with an oversized mallet delivers more force than the instrument or the bone segment is built to absorb; the professional standard for a 6¼"-class tamp is a lightweight mallet in the 7 to 11 ounce range. Matching mallet mass to instrument size is what keeps mallet energy controlled rather than transferring excess force into small bone segments the same principle that separates deliberate compaction from accidental fracture.
Reprocessing, Tip Care and Certification
The cross-serrated tip is the reprocessing point that needs specific attention: compacted bone dust and tissue fibre pack into the serrations during use, and a soft nylon brush during manual washing is what clears them before ultrasonic cleaning and autoclaving. Storing tamps in dedicated slots rather than loose in a general tray protects the precision tip from the impact damage that dulls or deforms it against other instruments.
Every instrument is Class I, reusable, CE marked and built under ISO 13485, the documentation a veterinary supply team verifies before qualifying a vendor. Warranty is one year with return-and-replacement, MOQ is 1 piece, orders over $99 ship free in carton box packing, and OEM marking is available for distributors. For the 6¼" pattern see bone tamps and pestles; browse all veterinary orthopedic instruments. Talk to us about OEM and volume terms.
